Includes hats, noise­mak­ers and cham­pagne to toast the New Year. Smor­gas­bord din­ner catered by Kate Praegel. Ter­rific dance music by DJ Pierre … back from last New Year’s Eve by pop­u­lar demand.

Table seat­ing is pre­arranged so be sure to advise us in advance if you wish to be seated together with spe­cial friends or family.

This Sun­day, Decem­ber 20th at 5pm, the Fin­land House Soci­ety and the Finnish Cana­dian Fish & Game Club will host a Children’s Christ­mas Party. Open to the young and young at heart, admis­sion is free for this event. Come out and enjoy rice pud­ding, cook­ies and cof­fee fol­lowed by a visit from Santa, and per­for­mances by local tal­ent and the attend­ing children.

If you would like a gift given to your chil­dren, please label them clearly with the child’s name and deliver them at the begin­ning of the evening. Please keep gift costs below $20 each.

For more infor­ma­tion call Lea Vain­ion­paa at (604) 462‑8006. If you are an enter­tainer and would like to take part in this event please call Markus Haukka at (604) 589‑8057.

From Decem­ber 1st, 2009, it will no longer be pos­si­ble to apply for a new Nor­we­gian Pass­port through the Nor­we­gian Hon­orary Con­sulates abroad, such as Van­cou­ver. Only Embassies and cer­tain Gen­eral Con­sulates will be able to receive appli­ca­tion after this date.

From Jan­u­ary 1st, 2010, it will no longer be pos­si­ble to apply for a national per­sonal num­ber and pass­port simul­ta­ne­ously. All Nor­we­gian cit­i­zens must have a reg­is­tered per­sonal num­ber in the National Reg­is­ter before an appli­ca­tion may be sub­mit­ted at the for­eign ser­vice mis­sion. Appli­ca­tion for a national per­sonal num­ber is to be, as before, placed with the for­eign ser­vice mission.

Bio­met­ric Passports

The rea­son for these changes is Norway’s com­pli­ance with Schen­gens require­ments regard­ing manda­tory bio­met­rics in pass­ports. Appli­cants shall, when pre­sent­ing them­selves at the for­eign ser­vice mis­sion, pay an appli­ca­tion fee and there­after sub­mit their bio­met­ric data in the form of pho­tog­ra­phy, two fin­ger­prints and a sig­na­ture. There is des­ig­nated equip­ment placed at the listed for­eign ser­vice mis­sions for cap­tur­ing bio­met­ric data. Iden­ti­cal equip­ment will be in use at police sta­tions and pass­port offices in Nor­way start­ing from the same date.

Infor­ma­tion about the appli­cant will be stored in accor­dance with the applic­a­ble laws, rules and the reg­u­la­tions at any given time. The appli­cant may them­selves choose at which Embassy or Gen­eral Con­sulate they wish to apply. An alter­na­tive could be apply­ing for the pass­port at a police sta­tion and pass­port office while vis­it­ing Nor­way, even with for­eign res­i­dency. Delivery/distribution of the pass­ports will take place as it does today, either at the Embassy or Con­sulate. In some coun­tries, the appli­cant may also receive the pass­port through reg­is­tered mail to the local post office.

Here we are feel­ing the win­ter weather, and the Olympics fast approach-ing, unbe­liev­able how fast the year goes by. We had an amaz­ingly suc­cess­ful year. In the sum­mer, the Seniors Salmon Bbq had a great turnout and Euro­pean fes­ti­val attracted a record attendance.

The Mid­sum­mer fes­ti­val fig­ures were up in nearly all areas. The biggest hit this year was the Wife Car­ry­ing con­test spon­sored by Carls­berg, the prize being the wife’s weight in beer. Two of our NHS mem­bers, Mar­ian Toft and Solvi Stokholm. con­vinced hus­bands David and Hugh to enter, they didn’t win but it was close. Nor­we­gian vol­un­teers were every­where, in the Nor­we­gian Vil­lage tent, man­ning the hugely suc­cess­ful waf­fle booth, help­ing cook up huge racks of salmon at the Bbq pit, and on duty at the Father’s Day Pan­cake break­fast. Once again the Mid­sum­mer Fes­ti­val was chaired by Per Gjerde, past NHS pres­i­dent. Per has been over­see­ing the fes­ti­val for the last 14 years and is now step­ping down. Thank-you to all the fan­tas­tic NHS vol­un­teers, and a very spe­cial thanks to Per, for years of orga­niz­ing this grow-ing event. It has really put the Scan­di­na­vian Cen­tre on the map.

The “Movie Mati­nee” in Octo­ber was very pop­u­lar with 90 peo­ple com­ing out to watch “Max Manus”, the story of one of Norway’s most revered resis­tance fight­ers. After the movie, the new English-language Library was open­ing with a wine & cheese party. Pia Chris­tensen and Debra Jones, the vol­un­teer librar­i­ans have done a great job. The new book-shelves made by Per Gjerde really add to the Scan­di­na­vian look of the room and there are two comfy chairs to sit in while you decide which books to bor­row. Do come and check it out, there are lots of chil­drens’ books, ref­er­ence books and lots of cur­rent fic­tion and non-fiction of Nordic authors in Eng­lish trans­la­tion. It makes me very proud to be a part of such a ded­i­cated group and to see our mem­bers work­ing so hard to make all the events spe­cial. Vol­un­teer­ing at the events is a great way to meet other mem­bers and con­nect with our her­itage, we would love to see you.

Photos on flickr

About the SCC

The Scan­di­na­vian Com­mu­nity Cen­tre (SCC) is a non-profit orga­ni­za­tion that has evolved into a meet­ing place for the com­mu­nity at large through the energy and effort of ded­i­cated vol­un­teers for more than ten years. It is a place where young and old from all walks of life can visit to expe­ri­ence Scan­di­na­vian tra­di­tions, cul­ture and make friends for life. The SCC is a meet­ing place for all Scan­di­na­vians, local and vis­it­ing, who strive to pre­serve and pro­mote Nordic cul­ture, com­mu­nity and spirit within the Greater Van­cou­ver area.

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